Day: 4 March 08
Itinerary: Depart Singapore, Arrive Shenzhen
Not sure if I was careless, plain stupid or trying to be smart. Did not bother to take a closer look at the e-ticket about the departure time. When I arrive at the BT (budget terminal), the ticketing counter for Shenzhen was nowhere to be found! I thought I was done for this time, missing the flight and screwing up the rest of the arrangements. The counter was already closed but luckily............only just. The lady was still consolidating all the paperwork at the counter although the counter did not show any flight destination anymore. The Tiger Airways lady was kind enough to checked me in as the last pax. Everything was done and dusted in less than 3 minutes! Talk about efficiency, I think this would have to be the fastest check-in done anywhere!
How can so fast one with a checked baggage? Can lah! Take any seat available and take the tagged baggage with you to the boarding area and pass the baggage and the the other half of the baggage tag to the ground staff at the boarding area, Voila! You're done! With a couple of minutes to spare I even managed to get a souvenir item from the duty free area!!
Cutting it this close might not be such a bad thing as the customs channel would be clear by then but bear in mind this applied to the BT only. Don't ever attempt or try this at T1,T2 & T3 with checked baggage!!
And so I board the plane for probably the best journey I have made so far. Managing to get on board was a miracle no less and subconsciously I was pretty sure this trip will be a great one and it sure did not disappoint!
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This was the 2nd time I took a budget flight, the first was also Tiger Airways, but a much shorter one to Bangkok. An over 3-hours budget flight was something else altogether, passengers got restless and gather together and talk like in a busy marketplace! I think it depends very much on the crowd you get on each flight. This flight there were too many groups of people travelling together. Lesson learnt -- I had already made up my mind on how to tackle the return flight.
There was one man in his late forties or early fifties, he was acting funny and a lot of people got worried. It was as if he was in fits. The flight attendants came over to check on him and he told them he was practising Qigong!! It would seem that his Qi is getting all over the place and on the verge of losing control!! Wonder where he learnt his Qigong from, better avoid the place at all costs!
Seated on the same row as me was a young lady (from Qingdao) who came to Singapore for a job but was told to go as her English was below the expected level for the job. She had paid a lot of money to the agent in China for this job and was in the job for less than 2 months! She will only get a partial refund on the fees paid. The sad thing about this was that she was actually interviewed in China by the Singapore agent and I wonder how both the China and Singapore agents, knowing the specific requirements for this job, took the easy way out to make their money with no regards whatsoever for the time and money spent by this young lady (only 19!) for making this futile long trip to Singapore. In the conversation with her, I came to know the low salary she was paid and how expensive it was to share a room and also the high cost of eating out for her in Singapore. The sums just do not add up, it is quite impossible to survive on that low salary. I guess the persons who profited from all these were the agents only!
She was unfamiliar with Shenzhen as it was her first time there. Hey! likewise for me too! I had no idea where I was going to put up for the night upon arrival, it was either to take the airport coach to Luohu and get into the nearest hotel or to instead stay at the hotels near the airport.
A Shenzhen lady who was sitting in the row in front of us mentioned something about the proliferation of pickpockets in Shenzhen and told us to be very careful with our belongings as she overheard we were both first timers in Shenzhen. Hey! Such words coming from a native of Shenzhen, everyone must heed!
On arrival at Shenzhen airport it was already close to 11:30pm. I decided to check into one of the hotels opposite the Airport as it would be more convenient tomorrow to sort out the rest of the air-ticketing, as well as getting to Windows of The World (世界之窗) and Huaqiangbei (electronics market) and back to catch the flight to Chengdu. I checked into Vienna Hotel opposite the Airport.
Itinerary: Depart Singapore, Arrive Shenzhen
Not sure if I was careless, plain stupid or trying to be smart. Did not bother to take a closer look at the e-ticket about the departure time. When I arrive at the BT (budget terminal), the ticketing counter for Shenzhen was nowhere to be found! I thought I was done for this time, missing the flight and screwing up the rest of the arrangements. The counter was already closed but luckily............only just. The lady was still consolidating all the paperwork at the counter although the counter did not show any flight destination anymore. The Tiger Airways lady was kind enough to checked me in as the last pax. Everything was done and dusted in less than 3 minutes! Talk about efficiency, I think this would have to be the fastest check-in done anywhere!
How can so fast one with a checked baggage? Can lah! Take any seat available and take the tagged baggage with you to the boarding area and pass the baggage and the the other half of the baggage tag to the ground staff at the boarding area, Voila! You're done! With a couple of minutes to spare I even managed to get a souvenir item from the duty free area!!
Cutting it this close might not be such a bad thing as the customs channel would be clear by then but bear in mind this applied to the BT only. Don't ever attempt or try this at T1,T2 & T3 with checked baggage!!
And so I board the plane for probably the best journey I have made so far. Managing to get on board was a miracle no less and subconsciously I was pretty sure this trip will be a great one and it sure did not disappoint!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was the 2nd time I took a budget flight, the first was also Tiger Airways, but a much shorter one to Bangkok. An over 3-hours budget flight was something else altogether, passengers got restless and gather together and talk like in a busy marketplace! I think it depends very much on the crowd you get on each flight. This flight there were too many groups of people travelling together. Lesson learnt -- I had already made up my mind on how to tackle the return flight.
There was one man in his late forties or early fifties, he was acting funny and a lot of people got worried. It was as if he was in fits. The flight attendants came over to check on him and he told them he was practising Qigong!! It would seem that his Qi is getting all over the place and on the verge of losing control!! Wonder where he learnt his Qigong from, better avoid the place at all costs!
Seated on the same row as me was a young lady (from Qingdao) who came to Singapore for a job but was told to go as her English was below the expected level for the job. She had paid a lot of money to the agent in China for this job and was in the job for less than 2 months! She will only get a partial refund on the fees paid. The sad thing about this was that she was actually interviewed in China by the Singapore agent and I wonder how both the China and Singapore agents, knowing the specific requirements for this job, took the easy way out to make their money with no regards whatsoever for the time and money spent by this young lady (only 19!) for making this futile long trip to Singapore. In the conversation with her, I came to know the low salary she was paid and how expensive it was to share a room and also the high cost of eating out for her in Singapore. The sums just do not add up, it is quite impossible to survive on that low salary. I guess the persons who profited from all these were the agents only!
She was unfamiliar with Shenzhen as it was her first time there. Hey! likewise for me too! I had no idea where I was going to put up for the night upon arrival, it was either to take the airport coach to Luohu and get into the nearest hotel or to instead stay at the hotels near the airport.
A Shenzhen lady who was sitting in the row in front of us mentioned something about the proliferation of pickpockets in Shenzhen and told us to be very careful with our belongings as she overheard we were both first timers in Shenzhen. Hey! Such words coming from a native of Shenzhen, everyone must heed!
On arrival at Shenzhen airport it was already close to 11:30pm. I decided to check into one of the hotels opposite the Airport as it would be more convenient tomorrow to sort out the rest of the air-ticketing, as well as getting to Windows of The World (世界之窗) and Huaqiangbei (electronics market) and back to catch the flight to Chengdu. I checked into Vienna Hotel opposite the Airport.
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